HeySpark – Live Chat and Call Now Plugin

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Does HeySpark connect to a third-party server?

No. Conversations are stored in your WordPress database. All real-time communication happens between the visitor’s browser and your own server via the WordPress REST API.

How does real-time live chat work without a third-party service?

HeySpark uses long-polling against the WordPress REST API. The visitor’s browser holds an open request that returns as soon as new activity happens on your conversation. It works on standard PHP hosting with no special server configuration.

Will it work with caching plugins?

Yes. The widget loads via deferred JavaScript and fetches its state over the REST API after the page loads, so cached HTML is fine. The admin inbox is not cached (WP-Admin is never cached).

How do I customize the widget’s colors?

Open HeySpark → Settings, pick a brand color, change the greeting text or launcher position, and save. The live preview shows your changes before you commit.

Can I hide the chat on mobile devices?

Yes. Uncheck Show on mobile devices in Settings.

What happens when I close a conversation?

The conversation is marked closed. The visitor sees a “This conversation has ended” banner with a button to start a new live chat. Past conversations appear in their widget home screen so they can view the history.

Is it GDPR-compliant?

Enable the GDPR consent checkbox in Settings and set your consent text. The pre-chat form will require the visitor to agree before sending. Visitor conversations are stored with a hashed, HttpOnly cookie. No personal data beyond what the visitor submits.

By default HeySpark does not contact any third-party service with visitor data. See the FAQ entry below if you want to enable Gravatar-based visitor avatars (off by default; requires explicit opt-in).

Does HeySpark contact any third-party servers?

By default, no. Conversations, settings, agents and visitor sessions all live in your own WordPress database.

There is one optional integration: under Settings → Visitor tracking you can turn on “Fetch visitor avatars from Gravatar”. When enabled, hashed visitor emails are sent to Gravatar (run by Automattic) to fetch avatar images shown in the admin inbox. This setting is off by default and the plugin makes no external requests for visitor data unless you opt in.

Agent avatars in the admin inbox use WordPress’s built-in get_avatar_url() for the logged-in agent’s own account — this is standard WordPress behaviour, governed by the agent’s own profile rather than the plugin.

Does the plugin work with multisite?

Each site in a multisite network runs its own HeySpark install with its own conversations and settings. No network-wide inbox in v1.

How do I translate HeySpark?

A POT file is included at /languages/heyspark.pot. Use Poedit, Loco Translate, or translate.wordpress.org to create a translation.

How do audio calls work?

Audio calls are off by default. Turn them on under Settings → Audio calls. Once enabled, visitors see a “Call us” option in the chat widget and agents can start a call from any conversation. Audio flows directly between the two browsers using WebRTC, so the voice stream never passes through your WordPress server. Only the call signaling (the setup handshake) and the call record (duration, who called) touch your site.

Do audio calls need a third-party service?

For setup, the browsers contact public STUN servers (Google and Cloudflare) to discover how to reach each other. No audio is sent to those servers. On restrictive networks a TURN relay is needed to carry the audio; this is off by default. You can either enable the optional HeySpark managed TURN relay (hosted on Cloudflare; audio passes through in transit but is never stored) or point the plugin at your own TURN server. Your conversations, messages and call history always stay in your WordPress database either way.

What happens if no agent is available to take a call?

If every agent is offline, or all online agents are already on a call, the visitor is shown the message form instead with a short note, so the contact is never lost. Visitor-initiated calls that ring without an answer are recorded as missed and can trigger an email to the address set under Settings.

Can an agent call a visitor back?

Yes. After a call ends or is missed, a “Call back” button appears on the call note in the conversation thread. Agents can also start a call at any time from the phone icon in the conversation header.

A call connected but I cannot hear anything. What is wrong?

Audio calls show two small level meters on the call card: the top bar is your microphone, the bottom is the other person. If your bar does not move when you speak, your microphone is blocked or muted at the OS level. If the other bar stays flat and a “No audio detected” notice appears, the media path is being blocked (common on strict corporate or mobile networks); enabling a TURN relay under Settings usually fixes this. For deeper diagnosis, turn on Verbose call debug logging in the Audio calls settings and reproduce the issue; events are written to wp-content/uploads/heyspark/calls-YYYY-MM-DD.log.